Resilient socket buckle



April 1957 R. D. CREEDON 2,790,222

RESILIENT SOCKET BUCKLE Filed Dec. 14, 1954 I NVENTQR: RONALD D. CREEDON ATTORNEY.

United States Patent RESILIENT SOCKET BUCKLE Ronald D. Creedon, Cambridge, Mass., assignor, by mesne assignments, to United-Carr Fastener Corporation, Boston, Mass., a corporation of Delaware Application December 14, 1954, Serial No. 475,064

1 Claim. (Cl. 24-77) This invention relates generally to buckles.

The object of the invention is to provide a buckle formed of a single piece of sheet metal which is adapted to receive a strap and snap into engagement with a shouldered stud. V

A further object of the invention is to provide a buckle as described above in which resilient means for engaging the stud is not affected by tensile forces applied to the buckle.

Other objects of the invention will, in part, be obvious, and will, in part, appear hereinafter.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is a top plan view of a buckle embodying the features of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a view in section taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the buckle of Fig. 1 assembled with a strap and snapped into engagement with a stud; and

Fig. 4 is a view in section taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawing, there is illustrated a buckle which is adapted to receive a strap 12 and to be snapped into engagement with a stud 14 mounted on a support 16.

The buckle 10 is preferably formed of a single piece of sheet metal and is provided with slots 18 and 19 at one end, one of which may be provided with tangs 20 to assist in retaining the strap 12 assembled on the slots, and means at the other end for snapping engagement with the stud 14.

The stud-engaging means comprise a portion 22 which projects outwardly from the adjacent portions of the buckle body, and an aperture formed in the body which has a semi-circular portion 24 disposed in the outwardly projecting portion 22 and an extended portion 26 extending back into the buckle body. The portion 22 is generally upwardly rounded in cross section to provide a downwardly inclined inner edge 28 of generally semi-circular configuration.

2,790,222 Patented Apr. 30, 1957 To provide means for snapping engagement with the stud, a spring finger so extends from the body into the extended portion 26 of the recess and terminates in a reverse curled end 32 disposed opposite the edge 28. The finger 30 lies generally in the plane of the buckle body and is flexible in a direction perpendicular thereto to cooperate with the opposite edge 28 to releasably engage the stud 14.

In the illustrated embodiment the slot 18 and the extended poition 26 of the aperture form a relatively narrow transverse member 34 from which the finger 30 extends. Flexing of the finger 30 causes torsional flexing of the member 34, which thereby assists in imparting an adequate snap action to the buckle.

The strap 12 may be assembled with the buckle by threading it through the slots 18 in a suitable manner, and the buckle may then be snapped into engagement with the stud in the usual manner.

After such assembly tension applied to the strap is resisted solely by the engagement of the edge portion 28 with the stud without any possibility of damage to the spring finger 30.

Since certain obvious modifications may be made in this device without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained herein be interpreted in an illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

A one-piece sheet metal buckle adapted to receive a strap and to snap into engagement With a shouldered stud, said buckle comprising a substantially flat body member having transversely extending strap receiving slot means adjacent one end thereof and stud engaging means spaced from said slot means adjacent the other end thereof, said stud engaging means having an aperture and resilient finger means integrally secured at one end in transverse relationship to a portion of said body member just spaced from and parallel to said slot means, said finger means extending forwardly therefrom and in substantially the same plane and in a direction away from the strap receiving slot means with the forward free end of said finger means extending into the aperture to engage the stud, stud portion of the body member to which the resilient finger means is attached being torsionally flexible in response to flexing of the finger means substantially perpendicular to the plane of the buckle body member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 510,333 Draper Dec. 5, 1893 FOREIGN PATENTS 978,850 France Nov. 29, 1950 

